McDonalds creates a dupe of their own restaurants

I'm somewhat familiar with 'dupe culture'.

The term ‘dupe’, which is short for duplicates, refers to cheap versions of coveted, more luxurious items.

For me, it's about finding cheap duplicates for beauty products I can't afford.

Others focus more on clothing—scouring fast-fashion sites to discover garments almost exactly like those from expensive labels.

And for others, it's about creating a fake restaurant chain to sell 'duplicates' of your own menu items to promote a new menu item.

Confused? Me too.

But this is what McDonald's (or, should I say, McDonell's) did.

Yep, McDonald's created a fake restaurant!

To launch their new limited-edition menu item—the Chicken Big Mac—McDonald's created a popup restaurant called McDonell’s.

The Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at McDonald’s USA, Tariq Hassan, said their aim was to play their 'fans’ biggest passions from dupe culture to live-streaming.'

And they did it all in secret.

Why? Because they wanted to grab people's attention. So, with the help of Chain (a business specialising in hosting popups serving gourmet versions of classic fast food), they created McDonell's.

The pop-up restaurant was open for one day, and one day only.

And beyond the ridiculously similar logo, menu items, and name, they also served something else that was familiar...

Their 'original dish,' the Chicken Sandwich.

It featured all the winning Big Mac ingredients—minus the beef—plus chicken.

As one online reviewer aptly described it:

'Two Chicken Nuggetish Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, on a Sesame Seed Bun.'

Yum.

You may be asking yourself, is a burger worth this hype?

And the answer is, apparently, yes.

The sandwich was a favourite in the UK, so the brand decided to test it in the US market by bringing it to Miami back in 2022.

It sold out about 10 days later.

People love their burgers! I'm sure the fact that the brand called it a 'Big Mac' didn't hurt.

Now that McDonald's is bringing the Chicken Big Mac to restaurants across the US, the popup restaurant was the perfect place for its debut.

According to this TikTok video, McDonnell's has great branding, very cool merch, fun drinks, and beautiful menus.

Basically, it's like McDonald's, but cooler.

I wonder, is it smart to create a popup restaurant worlds better than your real one? In the marketing world, the answer is probably yes.

Because it gets people talking, of course!

An event like the pop-up 'McDonnell's' invites customers to interact with the campaign.

They get to eat real food ('dupes' of the chain's classic meals) and post the whole experience on social media.

So McDonald's is sort of referencing themselves—they know they're a huge brand, and that people would realize immediately if someone was 'copying' them...

Basically, you can't duplicate a Big Mac, but you can make it better by adding chicken.

I do wonder if McDonald's is really using the term 'dupe' in the right context, though.

Because when Gen Z refers to dupes, they mean finding something less expensive than the original product that does a similar thing.

This is something premium (read: expensive) haircare brand Olaplex used in their marketing strategy in 2023. Responding directly to the fact they're 'one of TikTok’s most duped hair care brands,' they created their own 'dupe' product, 'Oladupé No. 160'.

This was actually the same exact product, just in different packaging. The point was to communicate that you can't recreate their product. It's pricey, but worth it.

But McDonald's isn't all that expensive.

Creating a dupe does communicate the popularity of the Big Mac and its status as a cultural icon.

Also, it tells us no one but McDonald's themselves could duplicate it successfully.

The other goal of the campaign was to bring, 'experiences that will surprise and delight' to their customers. And if you watch this video from Chain, the organizers of the pop-up, it looks as though they successfully achieved their aim.

People enjoyed their food and were genuinely confused about the similarity to McDonald's, delighting in the fun of it all.

Seems like a pretty good outcome to me!

-Maggie, Copywriter